Customer Snapshot: Elaine Doudna from the Ivywild neighborhood

HER STORY: I gave up a family reunion to be at Ranch Foods Direct’s Poopalooza this year!

ARE YOU A POOPAPALOOZA REGULAR? No, but I’ve been helping out with some of the classes at Galileo Middle School (where the event was held.)

SO HOW WAS YOUR FIRST POOPAPOOZA? It was wonderful. I bought some veggies from the little market they had that day. And I got a whole pickup load of manure. It’s for my garden. I wanted something that was not sprayed with a Monsanto product. You don’t know what the residues are in manure even after it’s gone through a cow. I do not want that in my garden. I used to get alpaca manure, until it dawned on me, there’s genetically modified alfalfa now.

GARDENING APPROACH: I’ve started doing some lasagna gardening. You use cardboard, an organic material that biodegrades, and layer it with grass clippings or mulch and just continue to layer it. There’s no need to send anything to the landfill. It’s a thing. There are whole books about lasagna gardening now.

OTHER INTERESTS: I’ve been hearing about bone-char from my permaculture friends. I’ve also started thinking about making my own gelatin, by roasting some bones.